origin of species

Vaporeon debuted as one of the original 151 Pokémon, first in the Japan-exclusive Pocket Monsters Red and Green in February 1997, followed by the
Japanese-exclusive
Pocket Monsters Blue in October 1996. Two games based on the Japanese Blue version were released in North America in September 1998 as
the Pokémon Red and Blue versions.

Vaporeon and the other Eeveelutions' designs seem to be based on dogs or cats or some other form of adorable four-legged mammal. Vaporeon exhibits
characteristics of aquatic creatures, notably its fin-like ears and tail.
Its tail is notably mermaid-like, as some Pokédex entries state.
The origin of Vaporeon's name is rather obvious; "vapor" means diffused water
and "eon" refers to a long period of time. All of Eevee's potential evolutions end with "-eon," possibly an allusion to the long span of time evolution takes. In fact, Eevee's original
English name was "Eon." Vaporeon's Japanese name is シャワーズ, Shawazuu, or... "Showers." Which is a pretty terrible name (that I
can assume refers to rain showers) if you ask me. Its German name is Aquana and its French name is Aquali, both refering to the word "aqua."